A/N: So, my computer is DAYS away from just blowing up. My Word documents are not letting me go past a certain length. If anyone knows how to fix this, please let me know.
So as many noted they wished last chapter was longer. Welp, it was supposed to be! Here is the rest of chapter 8. I am posting as a new chapter because I can't combine them due to computer issues.
Chapter 8 – Part 2
Arizona Heading up to see Dr. Webber when she decided that she would stop and see Teddy. It had been a while since the two had a good conversation and boy did she need it. Knocking on Teddy's office door, she was met with a "come in." When she entered she saw Teddy deep in a medical journal snacking on chocolate covered raisins.
"Snacking on chocolate? Either you are PMSing or Owen pissed you off." Arizona joked. Being a heart surgeon, Teddy pretty healthy. She always made fun of Arizona for her love of donuts.
"Neither actually. A patient of mine makes these things at home and they are so much better than store bought. Here, try some." Teddy and Arizona snacked on the treat and fell into a comfortable silence.
"Callie has a daughter." Arizona finally said what she was thinking.
"She does." Teddy replied.
"Did you know Callie named her after me?" Arizona asked, wondering why her friend didn't think mentioning Sofia would have been a good idea. She knew she had a no Callie policy, but this was kind of big.
"I did." Teddy replied, looking into her friend's eyes.
"You never mentioned she had a daughter."
"You told me in the beginning you couldn't hear about her." Teddy had wanted to. She really did. But she knew what that would do to her friend.
"I know. I just – I just always thought we would have kids together." Arizona's lip started to quiver.
"Arizona, you know I love you. I really do. But…what did you expect her to do? Sit and wait for you? You wouldn't even be here had Tim not turned up. She was a mess for a REALLY long time. All she did was work. She barley spoke to anyone. She just shut in on herself. Much like I think you did in Africa. But can you put yourself in Callie's shoes for a minute?" Arizona looked up at Teddy when she stopped talking. The thing Arizona loved about Teddy is she wasn't afraid to call her on her shit. Sometimes she needed that.
"You left and went to Africa. No one in Africa knew about Callie. Knew she was going to come with you. So, when you showed up to your first day of work there, it was no big deal. Think about Callie. She had said goodbye to everyone. Ready to go to Africa with you…"
"She didn't want to come, Teddy!" Arizona stood up and raked her hands through her hair in frustration.
"Okay but think about how she felt coming back here WITHOUT YOU. You know how this place works. It's worse than a damn high school. It was obvious you guys had broken up by the state of her. But imagine coming back to all your friends and having to explain what happened." Teddy pushed Arizona, knowing she needed to own her side of this.
"Listen, Callie should never have agreed to go if she didn't want to. I agree with that. But you just left her Arizona. You got on a plane and left and never contacted her. What if she did that to you?"
They sat in silence as Arizona processed everything Teddy had said. It was true. Yeah, Arizona had thought about how hard it had to have been, but never in the context of coming back to people who would surely gossip about them.
"She said Mark was there for her." Arizona whispered.
"He was. For a while, he was the only one she would talk to. He picked her up from the airport." Teddy stood up and came to sit next to Arizona. "Listen, I know you hate him. I think Callie did a really crappy job of drawing boundaries in your relationship. But he was there for her Arizona. Do I agree with him sleeping with her when she was sad and drunk, no. But they made Sofia. And let me tell you, Sofia is just amazing. She is my favorite patient I have ever had." Teddy chucked thinking about the little girl. She didn't notice the look of horror on Arizona's face. She didn't realize she had slipped and referred to Sofia as her patient.
"What do you mean your favorite patient? Teddy. You're a HEART surgeon." Arizona stood up to give herself some distance from the other woman.
"Yes. I am a heart surgeon. I am sorry, Arizona I figured you knew the history. Everyone around here does and it just slipped out. She is okay now. No longer a patient." Teddy tried to backtrack.
"What happened to her?" Arizona demanded.
"I can't tell you that and you know it." Teddy loved Arizona but Callie and Sofia's privacy mattered to her. Not to mention she legally couldn't tell her.
Arizona huffed and threw herself into the chair. "I missed everything, Teddy. Her daughter was in the NICU for two months, I learn she is a former heart patient. I wasn't here when she needed me." Arizona put her head in her hands and cried. She cried imagining what Callie had to have gone through with Sofia. She had seen so many NICU parents and she wished she would have been there. Been there to hold her and be her shoulder to lean on. For the first time ever, she wish she never would have left.
Finishing up her conversation with Teddy inviting her to Joe's with her and Alex tomorrow, she headed up to see Dr. Webber. As she suspected, the older man was ecstatic that she accepted the offer. They determined Arizona would start in a month. But she would start with strictly consults and cleaning up the department while she healed from Tim's never harvesting surgery. She thanked him and signed her contract on the spot. The contract was for 2 years and she really hoped when it was time to re-sign things would look a lot different.
As she was crossing the catwalk she looked down at her phone and saw she had a missed text. Seeing it was an unknown number, she swiped the screen to open it.
"How in the hell do these things work. I lived underground for 5 years…." -Timmy
Laughing at her brother and realizing he really was in for a shock, she placed her phone back in her pocket. She walked over to the elevator and hit the up button. As she looked around she was caught off guard by a head of small dark hair barreling towards her "PUNZLE!" the little girl shouted as she wrapped her arms around her legs. Laughing and remembering what Alex had said about her case of mistaken identity, Arizona kneeled down to greet the little girl.
"Hi Sofia. Is your head feeling better?" Arizona gently moved the hair out of the way of the wound. Seeing the band aid hasn't come off she just laughed.
"Uh huh! All betta." Sofia smiled proudly. "Mama kiss!" The little girl stated, like the cure was the simplest thing in the world.
"Sofia how many times do I have to- "the male voice stopped when he realized who Sofia had run to.
"Uh, hey Robbins." He scratched the back of his neck thinking that he would have to handle the introduction.
"Dada. Punzle!" Sofia pointed at Arizona. Mark looked confused.
"Remember Sofia, my name is Arizona." The little girl just ignored her. "Dada. Punzle! See".
"She seems to think I am Rapunzel." Sofia laughed.
"Ohhh. So, you gave her the band aid?" Mark chuckled.
"Yeah. Kepner brought her in when she hit her head." Arizona was praying the elevator would show up.
"Well. Thanks. I'm sure Torres appreciated it. Did you two talk?" Mark asked. Still having zero boundaries.
"Yup." Arizona had never waited so long for an elevator in her life.
"Listen, Blondie." Mark began. But he was met with Arizona's hand. "No. No. I am not Blondie. My name is Dr. Arizona Robbins. Let's not pretend to be friends. I wouldn't want you to get me pregnant. You know, you seem to do that to just friends." Arizona wanted to really lay into the man, but remembered Sofia was there. Hearing the elevator blink she dropped back down to her knees.
"Bye, Sofia. It was great to see you. How about you take the rest of these for when you have replace the old one?" She reached in her bag and pulled out the box of band aids.
"Tank you!" Sofia screamed.
"You're welcome, sweetie." Arizona smiled and walked onto the elevator. When the door closed she thought about just how hard it was going to be to see Callie's family every day. A family that didn't include her.